and many more benefits!

GMAT Club Timer Informer

Hi GMATClubber!

Thank you for using the timer!
We noticed you are actually not timing your practice. Click the START button first next time you use the timer.
There are many benefits to timing your practice, including:

Events & Promotions

Christina scored 760 by having clear (ability) milestones and a trackable plan to achieve the same. Attend this webinar to learn how to build trackable milestones that leverage your strengths to help you get to your target GMAT score.

Right now, their GMAT prep, GRE prep, and MBA admissions consulting services are up to $1,100 off. GMAT (Save up to $261): SPRINGEXTRAGMAT GRE Prep (Save up to $149): SPRINGEXTRAGRE MBA (Save up to $1,240): SPRINGEXTRAMBA

Hide Tags

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located
[#permalink]

Show Tags

Updated on: 21 Jun 2018, 10:26

2

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

5% (low)

Question Stats:

87%(00:46) correct 13%(01:16) wrong based on 102 sessions

HideShow timer Statistics

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Posts: 4691

Location: India

WE: Education (Education)

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located
[#permalink]

Show Tags

29 Apr 2011, 09:45

The accepted idiom is ‘so that’ as in C. 'So as to' can be used only when you say 'so adjective as to' (so beautiful as to, so dangerous as to). In order that, in order for and for the purpose are all wrong diction

C is the best answer.
_________________

GMAT tuition under able guidance is only half expensive and time-consuming as self-study in the final reckoning

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located
[#permalink]

Show Tags

15 Jun 2011, 10:35

rohitgoel15 wrote:

I was down to C and E. Though C seemed good, I chose E as i was not able to relate "they" in C.It can point to either factory outlets ormanufacturers . Please advice.

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against [highlight]department stores[/highlight] in the same trading area.

Please see the highlighted non-underlined portion of the sentence - "department stores".

Only stores can compete with each other. Manufacturers can't compete with department stores.

Thus, "they" has only one LOGICAL antecedent, Factory outlet stores, and is used properly as pronoun.
_________________

Show Tags

29 Apr 2013, 12:42

2

1

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.
_________________

Thanks and Regards,Charu Kapoor

Never Never Never GIVE UP !!Consider KUDOS in case I was able to help you.

Show Tags

29 Apr 2013, 13:03

1

CharuKapoor wrote:

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

The question is a bit confused, so when I m a bit confused I forget the rules of grammar (in first instance9 and rely heavily on meaning.

First of all here the subject are the stores (plural)

A ) ackward clearly

B) in order for them is wrong

D ) is the tough of the bill because we have they are not directly competitive against is convoluted and distort a bit the meaning see C in comparison

Show Tags

29 Apr 2013, 14:39

CharuKapoor wrote:

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

Hi,

But here there isn't ambiguity. Clearly, They refer to stores. Morover, manufactures is placed in an incidenta phresa that in turns out modify the stores...........so is not amboguos.

In gmat land when the contest is clear should not be the problem of pronoun reference
_________________

Show Tags

29 Apr 2013, 20:17

CharuKapoor wrote:

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

-----------------------------------None of the answer choices are making sense except C ... & the + point with C is that "They" is not creating the ambiguity ... So that's Y C must be the answer ...........
_________________

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working hard. And Now that’s a Huge mistake.

Show Tags

29 Apr 2013, 23:02

C is the best option. Please look at the meaning of the sentence -

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

Looking at the second sentence, it clearly gives you the idea that the latter half of the sentence refers to the stores when it uses "they"

Show Tags

30 Apr 2013, 14:15

CharuKapoor wrote:

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

hi charu, i am not an expert but i will share my thoughts.

first of all i will say never eliminate a choice only on the basis of pronoun ambiguity because it is only the preferred rule and one must always use in the last when you are stuck in 2 answer choces if no other errors are present.

secondly the gmat will usually tolerate pronoun ambiguity if:

1. if the context is obvious.2. the pronoun is parallel to intended noun.3. the pronoun is not parallel to other noun.

in this case 2nd one comes in to action:the pronoun is parallel to intended noun.

for clarifying this i will give one example:

take the pizza out of the box and put it.action noun prepn. noun conj. action pronoun(verb) (verb)in this case as per parallel structure rule "it " is clearly refering to "the pizza"

now in our case in this sentence:Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so that theydo not compete directly with department stores in the same trading area.

factory outlet stores verb========they verb ....here by seeing you can say verb is followed by noun manufacturers but logically it is not as it is acting as appositive .

for more clarification you can check this link:

more to add , in option E

(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with====>Here the meaning of original sentence is changed...for the purpose indicates that the purpose of factory outlet stores was not to compete with department stores.so for the purpose is wrongly intending something else.and moreover" for the purpose of not competing directly with" is not clear what is this modifying....

hope it helps

SKM
_________________

When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe ...then you will be successfull....

Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Posts: 4691

Location: India

WE: Education (Education)

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually
[#permalink]

Show Tags

24 Aug 2015, 09:50

1

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against ---‘So as --- not to be’ is unidiomatic; ‘ so as --- not to verb’ is acceptable (B) in order for them not to have direct competition with --- unidiomatic (C) so that they do not compete directly with --- correct (D) in order that they are not directly competitive against --- In order that is unconcise, when compared to in order to (E) for the purpose of not competing directly with --- When you want to express purpose , we should put it in the infinitive.
_________________

GMAT tuition under able guidance is only half expensive and time-consuming as self-study in the final reckoning

Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Posts: 4691

Location: India

WE: Education (Education)

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually
[#permalink]

Show Tags

24 Aug 2015, 20:20

be is indeed the basic form of the is, was and were series. Yet 'to be' becomes passive; 'so as not be competitive', that uses an adjective in the form of ' competitive' is inferior to the use of 'to compete', which is direct and dynamic; Hence the problem of using 'so as .... not to be'
_________________

GMAT tuition under able guidance is only half expensive and time-consuming as self-study in the final reckoning

Show Tags

15 Sep 2015, 05:43

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Although I am not an expert, I would say that it is clearly logical that stores competes against another stores..I think GMAC added stores to remove ambiguity.
_________________

Show Tags

26 May 2016, 03:10

CharuKapoor wrote:

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

it takes me a few ten minutes to figure why b is wrong.

honestly, i dislike "in order for them not to...". but we have no reason to consider the phrase wrong.

"them" in b can be considered ambiguous, referting to stores or manufacturers. in this respect, "they in c is better because they refers to the subject of previous clause. more logic.

b can be considered wordy. have competition with. is longer than "compete with".

so, we have 2 clears reasons to eliminate B. we do not need to consider "in order for them " .

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located
[#permalink]

Show Tags

27 May 2016, 11:11

MSDHONI wrote:

Let's discuss this

Couple of issues to point out here for the correct option (C)

1. So that = Shows Purpose

Factory outlet stores , operated by manufacturers , are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centres so that ( purpose ) they do not compete directly with departmental stores in the same trading area.

2. Use of correct idiomatic use : Compete with

3. Correct use of pronoun they : referring to factory outlet stores.

4. Correct S-V usage : Factory outlet stores----- are

Hence I will go with (C) without any grain of doubt !!_________________

Thanks and Regards

Abhishek....

PLEASE FOLLOW THE RULES FOR POSTING IN QA AND VA FORUM AND USE SEARCH FUNCTION BEFORE POSTING NEW QUESTIONS

Show Tags

27 Jul 2017, 08:26

CharuKapoor wrote:

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.

(A) so as not directly to be competitive against(B) in order for them not to have direct competition with(C) so that they do not compete directly with(D) in order that they are not directly competitive against(E) for the purpose of not competing directly with

Hi Friends, can someone please tell me whether the 'they' in the official answer is questionable. I eliminated this choice because I was not sure if they referred to stores or manufacturers and hence chose E which eliminates this ambiguity. Kindly explain me your approach.

"They" in Option E is not questionable because "Factory outlets" is the subject of the sentence and "they" is referring to this subject

Re: Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located
[#permalink]

Show Tags

20 Feb 2019, 08:49

MSDHONI wrote:

Factory outlet stores, operated by manufacturers, are usually located miles from downtown and regional shopping centers so as not directly to be competitive against department stores in the same trading area.